Process and apparatus for forming tubes



June 28, 1 927.

A. M. BATE? PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING wusms Filed Jan. 19, 19 254 Sheets-Sheet 1 vv a 2. ma 3 w e m d A 6cm new J 28,1927 A. M. BATESPROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING TUBES Filed Jan. 19, -i92s 4Sheets-Sheet 2 a a V V w n n i 5 i r "7 y .fi

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plurality of strips may perspective views. of

Patented am; 28, 1927. 1

UNITED STATESQPATENT' OFFICE.

Annmann m. BATES, or

cnroaco. rumors, nssrenoa 'ro BATES VALVE. BAG coumm, or cnIcAeo,Immoral conromiuonor wns'r vmemm.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR'FO BHING TUBES.

Application filed January This invention relates to a process andapparatus for forming tubes.

The object of the invention is to provide a process and apparatus bymeans of which a be pro ressively formed into 'a plurality of'nested tues.

particulars of the invention and-further ob jects thereof will appear asthedescription proceeds.

in In the accompanyingdrawings forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 is a plan view of apparatus embodying the invention; Fig.2 is aperspective view of a'portion of one side of the apparatus; Figs. 3 and4 are portions of the other side of the apparatus; Fig. 5 is a verticalsection on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1; Figs. 6 and 7 are sections on thelines 6- 6 and 77 of Fig." 5 Fig. 81s a section of a portion of theapparatus, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 8-8 inFig. 1; Fig. 9 is a rear. elevation of. the ortions of the apparatusshown in Fig. 8 with parts broken away; Fig. 10 is a? partial sectiontaken sub- 2 stantially on theline 10-10 of 1.

The a paratus for formingtubrng hereln disclose comprises means forreceiving rolls of tubing and feeding them out, this portion of themachine being generally indicatedby Q the letterA. From this portion ofthe machine the strips are drawn over and through guiding andadhesive-applying'means Band through folding means C by drawm feedingmeans --D, from which the olded tube passes to coiling and storing meansEn The invention contemplates the use of a pluralit of stri 'soriginally wound into rolls. n the em odiment of the invention hereindisclosed. five such stripsare used at aitime, the rolls from which theyare, taken being indicated as 20, 21 22, 23 and 24. Each of these rolls'issupported on ashaft 25. There are collars 26 and 27 on the shaft I atthe two ends of the roll and these collars are held in fixedposition byset screws 28, so that the roll is upon the shaft.

The shaft is mounted upon pedestals 29 and 30, the upper ends ofsuchpedestals being provided with anti-friction wheels 31 -upon'whichthe shaft rests. A bracket 32 is attached to the outer side ofthe'pedestal 30 and has an rip-turned end 33. A slide 34 is mounted forreciprocation upon bracket 32.

A rod 35 is threaded through the slide 34.

The,

. to receive catch 38.

gitudinal posltion of the shaft in relation to held firmly in position19, 1825. Serial No.,.8,488.

and passes through the up-turned end 33 of bracket 32. Rod 35 is heldagainst longitudinal movement through up-turned end 33 bya collar 36 andcrank 37, the crank serv-' ing as means for turning the rod to adjust 6the slide when desired. 7

A catch 38 is mounted u on a pivot 39 suitably fixed in slide 34. Xcoiled spring 40 has one end surrounding a stud 41 on catch member 3 andthe other end within a 05 socket 42 in slide 34. This spring normallypresses the catch member, upward; The shaft is provided witha roove 43adapted By t is means the-lonshaft suppqrts' A carrier 49 movable alongthis track, carries member 50 attached to a a5 shaft 25 having thereon astock roll 51 adapted to be positioned upon a pair of sup? ports 29 and'30, when the roll previously supported thereby. is exhausted.

In front of. the stock roll supports, upon sills 44, there are brackets52 carrying guide. rolls 53 to which the strips pass from the four rearstock rolls. In front of the sills 44 there rises a frame 54 having .aslideway 55.

Upon this slideway there rests guide 1-011 brackets 56 carrying rearguide'rolls 57 and front guiderells 58. Aboye the slideway 55 I there isa fixed adjusting bar 59 lengthwise of which bracket 56- is movedby anadjusting wheel 60. Brackets 56 likewise carry a final guide roll 61.

As will be seen from an inspection of the drawings, the strip from stockroll'20 passes beneath the roller 47 on the under side of the adjacentrunway; n'eaththe strips fed mm the other stock rolls to the lowest oneof the guide rolls 53,

and from there over the lowest ones of guide rolls 57 'and 58. Stri s63, 64 and 65, from stock rolls21, 22 an 23 follow asubstan;

latform 45 mounted upon 75 uide roller 47 which guides the strip from 80latform 45 and betially similar path, each successive one passingunderneath the successively higher roll 53 and over the successivelyhigher rolls 57 and 58. Strip 66, from stock roll 24, passes directlyupward over the highest rolls 57 and 58 and downward beneath the finalguide roller 61, sheets 65, 64., 63 and 62 passing therebeneath in theorder named. As will be seen, the several guide rolls guide the. stripsforward, through separate paths until they reach the final roll 61,where they are brought into contact with each other for the first time.

As clearly disclosed in Figs. 8 and 9, there is a tank 67 positioned inthe rear of guide roll61and adapted to contain a suitable adhesive 68'.The tank is adapted to receive a supply of adhesive in its left end 69,as viewed in Fig. 9. The adhesive in the main body 70 of the tank isseparated .from that in end 69 by a screen 71 which prevents thepassage, into the main body of the tank, ofany coarse particles orstiffened portions of adhesive.

Adhesive applying means is mounted in the main body of the tank andcomprises a series of discs 72 rotatably mounted upon a rod 7 8, whichin turn is mounted in the ends of adjusting levers 74. A. bar 75connects the rear ends of levers .74, and a spring. 76, between bar 75and a fixed bar 77, normally presses the rear ends ofthe levers downwardand thereby raises the discs against the Thestrips passing beneath guideroll 61. discs contact the surface of the adhesive in the tank'and eachdisc appliesva streak 78 of the adhesive to one edge of a strip of material passing beneath guide roll 61. It is preferable to apply theadhesive a short dis- I tance from the e of the strip, as shown in Fig.9, so that, when the two edges of the respective strips are pressedtogether, the adhesive will not be pressed out beyond the edge of thestrip. A scraperplate or doctor 79 is provided for scraping off anyexcess adhesive which may. adhere to the edges of the discs.

An overflow aperture 80 is provided in the side of tank 67 near itsright end. During normal operation, the adhesive 68 rises to a level81"slightly above the lower edge of aperture 80, and so flows outthrough such aperture. An overflow spout 82 is provided which guides theoverflowing adhesive into a spout 83, which. in turn leads into areservoir 84 of adhesive. A ump 85 is provided for drawing adhesive tirough pipe 86 from near the, bottom of reservoir 84 and forcing itthrough pipe 87 into; the receiving end of tank 67.

In front of'and beneath guide roll 61,

- there is a folding table 88. Supports 89, at

i In the device shown,

tached in a suitable manner to frame 54, support internal foldinglplatesor runways. t ese internal plates include a lower runway 90 and an upperrunway 91 for each side of the tube. At-

tached to each side of the folding table there bracket 93 may be usedfor any necessaryv support of internal folding plates or guides. At thefront end of the folding table there is a narrow top plate 94 forconfining the fold on one side of the tube, while broad top plate 95completes the folding down of the upper flaps into position to completethe tube. Additional guide rods 96 may be supported. on brackets 97 andused for guiding the material wherever necessary.

In front of the folding table there is-the feeding device, includingrollers 98, the up per one only of which is-shown. These rollers areactuated by any suitable mechanism, which it is not necessary to show ordescribe, and operate to draw the strips from the stock rolls past theguide rolls and through the folding means and feed it forward to thecoiling and storing means. i

In front of these feed rolls there is a storageshaft 99 about which thecompleted tube is received and coiled, as shown at 100.

After a coil has been completed, ,it may be moved over towards the otherend of the shaft and two completed coils 101, 102 are shown. Thecompleted tube will be led away from any of the stored coils, asindicated at- 103, to any desired means for treating the tubing, suchasa cutting or printing device.

In the operation of the device, a plurality of rolls 0 material,preferably paper, are mounted upon a number of shafts 25, the collars 26and 27 being so adjusted that each roll will be the proper distance fromgroove 43. The requisite number of stock rolls, five in the devicedisclosed, are mounted upon the supports and adjusted so that catches 38will enter the grooves 43' of the several shafts. Cranks 37 are operatedso that therolls will be out of alignment, with roll 20 nearest tosupport 30, roll 24 nearest support 29, and the intermediate rolls inintermediate positions. Strips are then led forward from the variousstock rolls beneath and over the proper guide rolls to the foldingdevice. The location of the stock rolls results'in a stepped relation ofthe strips when they are superposed.

v As will be readily apparent, the several strips do not come in contactwith each other until they reach the final guide roll where adhesive isapplied, and, thereafter the material is fed through the folding de-.vice without'bending about any transverse axis in such a manner as toproduce amaterial movement of the strips with respect to each otherlongitudinally thereof. It may be noted thatwhen the edges-of the stripsto which adhesive has been applied are folded upward and inward, theinner strip 66 is bent about the shortest axis, so that the distanceapart of the applied streaks of adhesive is increased by this bendingoperation. Furthermore, the bending upward and inward of the sides ofthe strip to which adheforming the new stock roll is secured to the endof the strip from the exhausted roll, and thus a continuous tube can beformed without any break where the various stock rolls are exhausted.

A quantity of adhesive in excess of that used is introduced into tank67, so that there is a constantoverflow of adhesive from the surface ofthe pool in .the tank. Rota- 'tion of the discs impels the surface ofthe pool towards the side of the tank in which the overflow opening issituated, so that any bubbles or other surface im erfections are piledup against that side 0 are carried off by the overflow. It may benoted'also, that any lumps or excess of adhesive scraped from the discsby thescraper plate or doctor fall on the surface of the pool towardsthe side from which the overflow is drawn. The fresh supply drawn fromnear the bottom .of storage receptacle 84, does not contain surfaceimperfections, and any other imperfections are strained out by screen71. The result of these provisions is that the discs run in uniformadhesive, and the applied streaks of adhesive are continuous and'uniform in quantity and quality. This is particularly advantageous wherea com aratively narrow streak of adhesive is app ied along the edge ofeach strip of material, as any imperfection might result in an im erfectseam. Further, it is highly desirab e, wherethere are a plurality ofclosely adjacent seams, such as shown in this disclosure, that each seamshall be comparatively narrow and uniform. v

While one embodiment of the invention has been described in some detail,it will be understood that various modificationsmay be made within thescope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is: I

1. The method of making tubes, which consists in mounting rotatably aplurality of rolls of material, drawin a sheet from each roll,-superposing the s eets and folding them so as to form a tube and whenone roll adapted the tank and.

"groove,

is exhausted; replacing it with another roll and-securing the end of thesheet in the replacing roll to the sheet in the exhausted roll 50 thatthe tube may be continuous.

2. A process of making a multi-pl'y tube,

which consists inmounting rotatably, in a row extending from a foldingand tubeforming apparatus, a plurality of rolls of material, drawing 'asheet from each roll to said apparatus,- each sheet being passed beneathsuch of said rolls as are-between the source of the sheet and saidapparatus, con- .tinuing the operation until one of the rolls isexhausted and then lowering from above a fresh roll into the placepreviously occupied by the exhausted roll.-

3. In apparatus for forming a multi-ply tube, a plurality of shafts,support a roll of material, means to support said shafts insubstantially parallel relation and separate means to adjust each shaftin its supports.

' 4. In apparatus for forming a multi-ply tube, a plurality of similarshafts, each adapted to'support a roll of material and each having agroove near one end, a plurality of similar supports for said shafts tohold said shafts in parallel relation and an adjustable member connectedwith the support for each shaft and adapted to enter a groove in theshaft mounted in the associated support.

5. In tube forming apparatus, a shaft having a groove in oneend andadapted to support a roll of material, upwardly open bearings adapted tosupport said shaft, means adapted to lower the shaft onto one of thebearings, a guide member mounted adjacent said bearin and adapted toresilient means normally urging said member upward, and a stop for saidmember normally stopping the upward movement of said member in positionto occupy said roove when the shaft is in properly adusted longitudinalposition and resting on said bearings.

6. In apparatus for forming multi-ply tubing, a device adapted toreceive a plurality of sheets of material in superposed stepped relationand form them into a multipl tube, a plurality of like sup orts for rols of material extending in eche on away from the receivingend of saiddevice, and

apparatus for applying adhesive located bestepped as they approach thedevice.

enter said" each adapted to path towards which the supports are 7. Inapparatus for forming tubes, bear- 1 ings adapted to support a pluralityof rollcarrying shafts in substantially parallel relation, a runwaybetween the bearings for roll beneath adjacent shafts, and a guide eachrunway adapted to guide material from a roll on an adjacent shaft.

8.. Apparatus. adapted to receive and operate upon a plurality ofsuperposed sheets of material, means for supporting a plurality of rollsof material with their axes parallel and in a line transverse theiraxes, extending away from said apparatus, a runway between each pair ofadjacent rolls, and means to guide the sheet 'from each of the rolls,

' except that nearest to said apparatus, be-

, said apparatus.

neath the intervening rolls and runways to 9.1m apparatus for formingmulti-ply tubes, supports for more than two rolls of material, a finalguide roll, intermediate guide rolls arranged to uide sheets from rollsof material mounte on saidlsupports to said final guide roll andm'aintaln the sheets separate until they reach said final guide roll,and folding apparatus arranged to receive the superposed sheets directlyfrom said final guide roll and to fold them into tubular form,whilestill' in contact with each other 1 10. In apparatus for formingmulti-ply tubes, means to feed a plurality of sheets of material intocontacting superposed stepped relation to each other against theunderside of a guide roller, means to apply adhesive to the steppededges of the sheets beneath said roller, and means for folding upwardand inward the edges of the superposed sheets to form a multi-ply tube.

11. In apparatus for forming multi-ply tubes, a device adapted toreceive a plurality of sheets of material in superposed stepped relationand form them into a multi-ply tube, supports for more than two rolls ofsheet fabric arrangedto support said rolls in alignment with and atsuccessively greater distances from said device, a final guide roll fromwhich the sheets are fed to said device and intermediate guide rollsmaintaining the sheets from the several supply rolls separate until theyreach the'final guide roll.

12. Apparatus in accordance with clainr 11, 'and having the supply rollsupports so arranged that the supply rolls will have their axes insubstantially the same horizontal plane, and having the intermediateguide rolls so arranged that the sheet from 14. Apparatus in accordancewith claim v 11, and having certain of the intermediate guide rollsadapted to guide sheets from the several sup ly rolls beneath/othersupply rolls until t ey have passed under the supply roll nearest to theforming device, and having other guide rolls adapted to guide the sheetsupward between the donning d e vice and the supply roll nearest to theforming device and then downward into contact with each other againstthe lower side of the final guide roll.

15. Apparatus in accordance with claim 11, and having certain of theintermediate guide rolls adapted to guide sheets from the several sup 1yrolls beneath other supply rolls until t ey have passed under the supplyroll nearest to the forming device, and having other guide rolls adaptedto guide the sheets upward between the forming de- Vice and the supplyroll nearest to the forming device and then downward into contact witheach otheriagainst the lower side of the final guide roll, and means foradjusting the last described intermediate guide rolls and the finalguide roll towards and from said forming device.

'-In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name to thisspecification.

ADELMER M. BATES.

